_Rowena's POV_
I nearly missed the moment the car passed through the Varkos gates.
The estate emerged from the darkness shortly before five in the morning, its stone walls silver beneath the fading moon. But I barely saw it.
Alaric's final words still followed me.
I had spent years learning the danger of assuming that a powerful man's attention meant tenderness. I would not search for promises in a few carefully chosen words simply because Alaric had treated me with respect.
Whatever he wanted from our next conversation could wait.
First, I had to be free enough to attend it.
Returning to Moonreign was dangerous. Staying away before I secured the original records would have been worse.
The house was silent when I entered through the side door. Velvet followed me upstairs while I we
